Beach Hut Blues

Redcar & Cleveland council faces another controversy from local residents after introducing new rules with regards to the use of the beach huts near the pier. The new policy will allow people on the waiting list to take over the lease of a hut after the tenant has held it for a maximum of five years. Officials also plan to introduce renting the huts by the day rather than people being allowed to lease them for a year.

The council resorts manager had noted that many people were not using the facilities even though they had paid their rental and many people had been on the waiting list for up to ten years. As a result the council had decided to allow existing tenants to keep the chalets for a maximum of five years from the date on which they first signed the lease and future agreements would be issued for a maximum of one year only.
The new ruling has upset some of the present tenants many of whom have been renting one of the twenty huts for over ten years on an annual basis.
Although some of the protesters understood the philosophy behind the council's new policy they are finding it difficult to agree with it. One tenant, Mrs Hazel Taplin, has rented, maintained and decorated a beach hut for over ten years. She felt that perhaps the council should consider building more huts if they are in such high demand, and could not see how it could be fair to deprive a family of the right to re-rent a facility which they have regularly used and cared for over the years.